PROVINCIAL REPORTS
Mpumalanga faces huge medical negligence claims
The Mpumalanga health department faces medical negligence claims of more than R7.6bn, more than 40% of which centre on children allegedly born with cerebral palsy, Parliament heard on Tuesday. This is more than half its budget allocation for the 2018-19 fiscal year, which stands at R13.3bn. The figures cast the spotlight on the province’s weak public health service, which has seen its institutional maternal mortality ratio (iMMR) deteriorate over the past four years from 108 per 100,000 live births in 2014-15 to 120 in 2017-18. The iMMR is considered one of the key indicators of the strength of a health system, as women are particularly vulnerable during childbirth: in Italy it was four per 100,000 live births in 2015. Parliament’s health portfolio committee has asked provincial health departments to report on the state of their hospital services. Last week, both Gauteng and Western Cape briefed MPs, emphasising the growing service pressures they faced. On Tuesday it was the turn of...
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